'I'm Gonna Do Whatever I Can': Trump Pivots to Ukraine at the G7 as Allies Test a New Playbook

June 17, 2026

With a tentative end to the Iran war finally in sight, President Donald Trump arrived at the Group of Seven summit in the French spa town of Evian-les-Bains this week and turned his attention to the conflict that has bedeviled three American presidents: Russia's war on Ukraine. The president met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pronounced their conversation "very good," and pledged to do "whatever I can" to bring the fighting to a close. But beneath the warm words lay a more revealing story—one about European leaders quietly experimenting with a new way of handling a famously transactional American president.

Iran in the Rearview, Ukraine Back in Focus

The timing was no accident. The summit, running June 15 to 17, unfolded just as the United States prepared to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran on Friday to end the nearly four-month war that has dominated the global agenda. With that conflict winding down, Trump signaled he was ready to move on. Iran, he said, would soon be "back in the rearview mirror."

That shift created an opening that European leaders had been waiting for. The Iran crisis had, in recent weeks, overshadowed the war in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched more than four years ago. The official summit agenda—spanning the security of Ukraine and Europe, the Middle East, economic growth, and artificial intelligence—reflected the breadth of concerns, but for the host nation and its allies, one item towered above the rest.

Trump attended a morning session with G7 leaders plus Zelenskyy that ran roughly an hour over schedule, then held a separate sideline conversation with the Ukrainian leader and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Speaking to reporters ahead of a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Trump said he'd already "had a good meeting" with Zelenskyy and turned his rhetorical fire toward Moscow. "Russia should make a deal," he said. "Russia has lost tremendous amounts of people, and so has Ukraine."

'Russia Should Make a Deal'

Trump's framing of the war carried his characteristic mix of confidence and frustration. He revealed he had spoken with Putin by phone on Sunday, a conversation that covered "the same thing"—the push for a settlement. He lamented the human toll, noting that too many young men were dying on both sides. "The whole thing is ridiculous," he said. "So, yeah, I'm going to do whatever I can."

There was also a note of wounded expectation. Before returning to the White House for his second term, Trump had famously claimed he could resolve the Ukraine war in a single day. At Evian, he conceded the matter had proven harder than advertised. "This was the [war] I thought was going to be the easiest settled," he said, attributing the difficulty to the personal animosity between the combatants: "There's a lot of dislike between the two leaders." He also repeated a favorite boast, claiming to have settled eight wars—a tally that now, in his telling, includes Iran.

For his part, Zelenskyy walked away with concrete deliverables, or at least concrete commitments. "The key focus is to strengthen air defence for Ukraine and advance diplomacy, to make Russia end its war," he posted on X afterward. "Peace is needed." He listed what he had secured from the G7: more air defense missiles along with licenses to produce them, a winter support package, and intensified pressure on Russia. Crucially, he added, "the US is ready to provide backstop across these lines of effort"—a signal that Washington had not entirely receded from the picture even as European nations have stepped up.

The Allies' New Approach

The most consequential dynamic at the summit was less about what Trump said than about how his counterparts handled him. For much of his second term, foreign leaders have leaned on flattery to win Trump's cooperation—personalized gifts, lavish praise, appeals to his sense of legacy. At Evian, some allies appeared to be testing whether there was an alternative: making a substantive, evidence-based case rather than simply stroking the president's ego.

That case centered on a single argument: the situation on the ground has changed. Zelenskyy and European leaders worked to impress upon Trump that Ukraine's fortunes have genuinely improved, and that earlier U.S. assumptions about acceptable peace terms—assumptions European diplomats viewed as overly favorable to Moscow—are now outdated. Ukrainian drone incursions deep into Russian territory have strengthened Kyiv's hand. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, meeting with Zelenskyy, declared the G7 "united" behind Ukraine and said "the tide is turning" in Kyiv's favor. The refrain echoed across the summit: "The tide is turning for Ukraine. The situation in 2026 is very different from 2025."

European diplomats described the tone of the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting as constructive—a notable contrast to past encounters that have curdled into public friction. The bet appears to be that Trump, presented with a credible argument that Ukraine is winning momentum, might be persuaded to lean harder on Putin rather than press Kyiv toward concessions.

Europe Picks Up the Slack

The summit also laid bare a structural shift in who is actually funding Ukraine's defense. As the U.S. under Trump has cut back aid, France and its European allies have become the largest providers of military and financial support to Kyiv. French President Emmanuel Macron, the summit's host, said he would seek to persuade Trump to continue backing Ukraine and to ramp up pressure on Russia toward a peace agreement.

Concrete measures accompanied the rhetoric. The United Kingdom announced a fresh round of sanctions targeting the "shadow fleet" that Russia uses to ship oil and gas, as well as the financial networks Moscow relies on to evade Western sanctions. An EU loan package, according to reporting, now covers roughly two-thirds of Ukraine's financial needs, and Kyiv is seeking some $20 billion more. European leaders pressed Washington specifically on air defense systems and tighter sanctions on Moscow, even as Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities continue.

Zelenskyy, speaking by video link to a Reuters summit in London, sharpened the pressure further, warning that Russia would face a punishing winter—amid escalating Ukrainian strikes on its energy infrastructure—if it refused to negotiate. The message to both Moscow and Washington was the same: Ukraine is not negotiating from weakness.

What It Means

The Evian summit revealed a president recalibrating after a draining Middle East crisis and a chorus of allies seizing the moment to redirect his attention. Whether Trump's pledge to do "whatever I can" translates into sustained pressure on Putin—or into renewed pressure on Kyiv to accept a deal—remains the open question. His instinct to settle the war quickly is intact; what has shifted is the case his allies are making about the terms.

For now, the headline commitments are real but untested. Zelenskyy himself flagged the obvious risk: "It is key that everything discussed be implemented." Air defense missiles, production licenses, a winter aid package, and an American "backstop" all sound substantial on a summit communiqué. The harder work—turning those pledges into delivered systems and a unified front that actually moves Putin—lies ahead.

What the summit demonstrated, more than any single agreement, is that Ukraine's allies have learned something about managing Trump. Flattery may still have its uses, but at Evian they wagered that facts on the ground might prove more persuasive than praise. The coming weeks will show whether that wager pays off—and whether a president who once promised a one-day peace can deliver anything close to it.